Report: Lakers Promised Nash He Could Play With Gasol

The Lakers are struggling to pick up Mike D’Antoni’s pick and roll offense and frustration is mounting. Lakers forward Pau Gasol is injured, out-of-place, and the subject of rampant trade rumors.

Those trade rumors will probably stay rumors for the time being, or at least until point guard Steve Nash gets the opportunity to play along side Gasol for more than two games.

Ric Bucher of CSNBBayArea.com is reporting that part of the reason the Lakers were able to land Nash, was by promising the point guard that he’d have the opportunity to play with Pau Gasol.

Ignore any and all trade talk about Pau Gasol because the Lakers landed Steve Nash by promising him he would get to play with Gasol. Nash made it a prerequisite for passing on offers from Toronto and the Knicks that Pau would be around, the source said….

Conceivably, once Nash gets back and actually plays with Gasol, the Lakers could continue to struggle and Nash re-thinks his position. But as of right now, one of the enticements that brought Nash to LA was the big Spaniard and the organization would have much bigger problems than they already have if they backtracked on their promise to keep Gasol in the fold.

Well there you have it. I wouldn’t expect Gasol to be moved until are parts on this team are healthy and able to assess their overall abilities as a group.